Look! A Parachute!

Both my father and mother were primary school teachers, so the children would usually stay home alone in the daytime. On that day, father had gone up Mt. Inasa, holding the Emperor's picture for protection, while mother was at Inasa Primary School. My elder brother and sister were in charge of fire prevention of our house. As I and the other three were younger, we were supposed to take refuge in the neighborhood air shelter when the air raid warning was given.

Early in the morning on August 9, the ominous air raid siren blew. As usual, I threw my knapsack on my back, picked up my youngest sister in my arms, ordered my younger brother and sister to come along with me, and hurried up to the community air raid shelter. We entered the shelter and looked for a nice place to sit, but the shelter was already so crowded with my friends that I could find hardly any room for us four.

We played all sorts of games there. About two hours passed, but the planes didn't come and the "All clear" was sounded. We folded up the straw mat and left the shelter.

When I got home, I found our meal ready. Boiled rice mixed with pumpkin. It was a wonder to have a scramble egg as an accompanying dish. Before I had finished the meal, the lady in the house opposite came and told me to go for a ration of dried tea, so I picked up my youngest sister and left, with a tray in one hand.

Outside my house, two young men in my neighborhood stood staring at the sky.

"Look! A parachute!"

"One.....two....."

One of them was about to say, "Three," when there came a flash, something like magnesium light. The next moment I found my house tumbling down and half destroyed. I thought my house had been directly hit. But when I looked around, I wondered what had happened. All the neighboring houses were destroyed, and the roads were buried under broken pieces of glass, wood chips, and plaster, leaving no space to walk.

As usual, I threw my knapsack on my back, picked up my youngest sister, ordered my younger brother and sister to come along with me, and hurried to the air raid shelter.

The dim shelter was already crowded with people. Many were lying with a strong-smelling white ointment on their burned skin. I felt like returning home, but I was afraid we might have another air raid, so we stayed in the shelter. Water was dripping from the ceiling and ran down my neck. I felt terrible. Children who were usually noisy were horrified and kept silent. We sat motionless for a long time.

"It's been eight hours," said one of the men. I began to think of my family. "What has become of father and mother?"

Beside me there were some families with both parents and children. Looking at them, my sisters and brother seemed envious and sad. I was anxious to take them home as soon as possible, but planes flew buzzing without a break and the loud clang of "take shelter" came frequently from the spotting position. It was dangerous outside, and it was out of the question for me to go alone with them. Finally I ran out of the shelter alone, ready to die. Three times I heard the clang of "air raid" before I got home, and I ran into a nearby shelter as many times. When I reached my house, I found it destroyed and could not enter. My elder sister was preparing a meal at a neighbor's kitchen. My elder brother was in our air raid shelter near the house. Neither mother nor father had returned yet.

By now I had collected myself and wasn't afraid anymore. I went back to the shelter and came home with my sisters and brother. About 8 o'clock in the evening, mother returned home safely and said some of the teachers in the same room had been killed. We were beside ourselves with joy. We learned that my father was also safe and sound. After that we had to live in the air raid shelter. It was decided that only the children would sleep in the community shelter.'

We spread a straw mat in the yard and had supper on it. After that we hurried to the air raid shelter so as to get good seats, carrying two sitting-cushions, a knapsack and a pouch of parched beans to eat. As there were only children, when they went out to urinate at night they were often half asleep, and those who were stepped on would cry and make a fuss. It was rather amusing.

Sometimes we stayed overnight in our homemade shelter, but it was so small that only one mat could be laid and eight of us had to spend the night on it. Four of us slept first, lying on the tatami mat from just above the waist, while the other four stayed awake, sitting on the steps at the entrance. We took turns sleeping.

Ohato (an area situated along Nagasaki Harbor) was burning right before our eyes. When we were looking up at the reddened sky, we heard the buzzing of a plane and the clang of "take shelter" followed, so we hurried into the shelter in dismay.

On the day after the A-bomb attack, we got a ration of rice balls. Some were of polished rice, and others of unpolished rice, and they different in shape and volume. Various associations and villages seemed to have distributed them. The side dish was canned food. The canned food factory nearby had burned down and we were given what remained after the fire. This diet of rice balls and canned food was really a great one, and we always enjoyed each meal.

Aug. 15. Non-conditional surrender. No more war. No more bombs. Farewell to the air raid shelter forever! Now let's go and rebuild our house!

Father was very busy collecting roofing tiles and sheet zinc and preparing plaster. Inside the house a chest of drawers and a tea shelf had been thrown down, everything was blown around, and broken pieces of glass were stuck in the tatami mats, which were covered with dirt. It was quite a job for mother to clean them and put each in order. Each of us had a share in the work.

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